The Trans States Airlines Blog

Congratulations to our First Quarter 2015 Above & Beyond winners! This was our biggest quarter for Above & Beyond participation to date—we received 51 nominations this quarter, far surpassing nomination totals from all previous quarters. We are excited that so many of you took the time to tell us about the extraordinary things that your co-workers are doing!

This quarter also marks the first time that we are rewarding those who nominated their co-workers, in addition to the winners. In the case of multiple nominations for the same individual, we either selected the nomination that did the best job of describing a co-worker’s above and beyond actions (i.e. went into extensive detail about a particular event, described how a co-workers actions exceeded their regular job responsibilities, etc.) or, in the case of multiple nominations that were equally specific, we randomly drew a submission from the eligible nominations.

2015 ABOVE & BEYOND WINNERS BY CATEGORY

Corporate/Station Employee: Rosalind Kirkwood

Nominated by: Chris Gate, Trans States Maintenance

Chris told us how Rosalind assisted him with a number of different computer issues at the hangar. Rosalind was in constant communication with Chris as she worked on his issues, calling periodically to give him updates, as well as checking to make sure that things she had fixed earlier were functioning properly. She not only fixed all of his issues, but was helpful, informative and polite throughout the process.

Flight Ops: Michael Burris

Nominated by: Timothy Wade, Flight Ops

Thanks to Michael’s efforts, the Flight Ops team was trained on the new XR aircraft, meeting and even exceeding targets, in spite of a very tight schedule. Michael’s above and beyond efforts were critical to the success of the operation.

Inflight: Yewande Martins;

Nominated by Opal Combs, Inflight

Yewande defused multiple situations on a flight she was working, including a hostile passenger and an ill passenger, while remaining positive and upbeat the entire time. Despite the less than ideal circumstances, Yewande’s positive attitude and cheerful personality made the flight enjoyable for the passengers. Opal Combs, who was on the flight, said that she overheard other passengers taking about what an extraordinary flight attendant Yewande was, and praising her personable and caring attitude. Yewande made the most of a difficult situation, all while representing the company in an outstanding way.

Maintenance: Jonathan Phillips

Nominated by: Paul Gorby, PAC Department

Paul told us how Johnathan, a night shift Parts Clerk, excels at his job and consistently displays a commitment to getting our mechanics the parts they need. Paul remarked, “When TSA planes are AOG out of St. Louis, John makes it a point to come to senior mechanics to make sure out-stations get not just the right part, but all the parts they need to get our aircraft flying.” Actions such as this are key to getting our aircraft back online as quickly as possible and are essential to the overall performance of the airline.

Confusion with new corporate travel email addresses combined with computer issues accumulated over 700 emails for John and Bakula to get through. The two of them tackled the backlog as a team, while still working with new hire classes and processing company travel requests. John and Bakula even worked from home after hours and came in on weekends to get caught up.

Each winner will receive a $50 Visa gift card, and the person who nominated will receive a $25 Visa gift card. We will be giving away $500 worth of gift cards this quarter!

In addition to the winners, we received many outstanding nominations this quarter. Please join me in also congratulating all of the nominees for their exceptional service. I am proud to work with such a hardworking and talented workforce. Keep up the good work!

And finally, please remember that nominations for the second Quarter Above & Beyond contest will be accepted until June 30th. You can submit your nominations online via the link on the employee website or via the link on the employee blog. Please take the time to let us know whenever you see one of your co-workers providing above and beyond service to our passengers or to their co-workers!